Very little has been communicated to Village residents about the Longmeadow Parkway Project until the last twelve months. Even less has been communicated to residents about the Algonquin Western Bypass due for completion later this year unless they hear muffled references to the project in Village Board meeting recordings.
Nevertheless, both projects will have dramatic, unavoidable impacts on currently congested rush hour traffic congestion from County Line Rd. south in our Village.
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The IDOT funded Algonquin Western Bypass (inset left) will be completed in the fall of 2014. It is designed to eradicate the traffic bottleneck at the intersection of Rte. 31 and Algonquin Rd. by bypassing that intersection to the west to improve north/south congestion for commuters. It also promises to “double time” the east/west traffic signals at that intersection to improve traffic flow to our west on Algonquin Rd.
This is the first train headed our way.
Planning for the Kane County Department of Transportation (KDOT) sponsored Longmeadow Parkway Project began in the late 1990’s due to limited bridge options for motorists needing to cross the Fox River. The impetus for the project was rapid development of housing in the western Fox Valley corridor, primarily in McHenry County but also Kane County to alleviate congestion in the northern portion of the county.
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Longmeadow Parkway, currently in Phase 2 engineering which should ensure it’s going to happen, will bring thousands more commuters to Algonquin Rd at the intersection of Autumn Trail Road once completed (see graphic inset left). The planned traffic light in the image might provide extremely brief pauses in traffic on Algonquin Rd for those traversing the road on Helm, Bateman or Old Sutton Rds. but it will be seconds – not enough to matter.
Longmeadow is the second train heading for the Algonquin Rd. tunnel.
As the Longmeadow Project has been more exposed in the last year to residents, some have questioned why Barrington Hills has not opposed the plan. Unfortunately, this is not an option since our Village has supported it for years.
Communications between Barrington Hills and KDOT go back over ten years, but in 2005, the Village commissioned Gewalt Hamilton to create the following maps showing the Longmeadow path to Algonquin Rd within our borders:
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Additionally, in 2006 and 2007, our Village Board approved two separate resolutions supporting the progress of Longmeadow Parkway Project planning.
Resolution 06-06, “Resolution Supporting a Bridge Study Corridor and Project in Dundee Township for Construction of the Longmeadow Parkway (Bolz Road) Bridge, and Route 62 Traffic Corridor Study from Route 68 to Route 31” passed in 2006 can be downloaded here. Resolution 07-10, “Resolution Supporting Evaluation of Longmeadow Parkway Bridge Corridor Toll Bridge Funding” passed in 2007 can be downloaded here.
Even on the slightest chance the Longmeadow project was to be scrapped, there is still the Western Bypass which will significantly increase traffic on Algonquin Rd. It’s estimated that the two lanes of Algonquin Rd in the Village are running at fifty percent more than capacity.
Anyone who regularly travels this corridor in the morning or evening during the week will attest to the fact it is a bottleneck, and with the recent widening of Algonquin Rd. in South Barrington, ours is the now only two-lane configuration between Huntley and Des Plaines.
For recently elected officials like Konicek, Harrington and President McLaughlin, this situation is something akin to trying to catch a falling safe. For the rest of the board, it presents the question of why this is all really coming to light now. Nonetheless, something has to be done.
During last Wednesday evening’s Longmeadow open house, participants were given a questionnaire seeking guidance on how to go forward with IDOT and Algonquin Rd. Readers of The Observer can add their suggestions too by downloading a copy of the questionnaire here and sending it to Village Hall on or before next Friday, March 21. The fax number at Village Hall is 847.551.3050.
– The Observer